As Wellness Spending Grows, Can Activewear Brands Seize the Opportunity?

After more than a decade of double-digit expansion, activewear is entering a new era of stable growth, with the category expected to grow approximately 5% annually through 2030. At the same time, the global wellness economy is expected to grow approximately 8% annually, outpacing many discretionary categories and creating powerful tailwinds for athletic apparel and footwear. As consumers expand their spending across a wider range of wellness categories, athletic apparel and footwear brands have an opportunity to capitalize on this momentum by engaging with consumers in key life stages and connecting with shifting wellness routines.

The challenge is determining where and when to participate in the broader wellness economy. Our research of more than 2,000 US, German, and French consumers shows that consumers do not expand their wellness spending evenly over time. Instead, spending accelerates during a distinct set of life moments that create disproportionate opportunities for brands. Success depends on recognizing these moments early and responding at the right moment, with the right offering, and in the right channels. In short, brands should:

• Engage consumers at key life stages in their fitness and wellness journey. Identify the moments when spending accelerates and decelerates, pinpoint acquisition and retention opportunities, and tailor offerings to consumers’ changing needs.
• Build credibility in wellness adjacencies that reinforce the core activewear value proposition. Extend selectively into adjacent wellness areas through products, partnerships, content, and experiences that strengthen the brand.
• Show up where consumers increasingly look for fitness and wellness solutions. As discovery shifts from product searches to AI-driven recommendations, companies must learn how to earn recommendations in these channels.

Where Activewear Wins—and the Next Wave of Growth Beyond Apparel

Wellness remains a resilient discretionary spending category with +17% net intent, outpacing
technology, skincare, dining, and apparel overall. (See Exhibit 1.) Athletic apparel and footwear are entering this next phase of wellness growth from a position of strength. Category participation is already exceptionally high, with 94% of consumers purchasing activewear, far exceeding the average across other fitness and wellness categories. Consumers report positive net spend intent over the next 12 months, with athletic footwear (+9%) and sportswear (+8%) continuing to outperform broader apparel (–1%) on spend intent.

Unlike many adjacent wellness categories that are still building adoption, activewear is supported by deeply established consumer habits. Nearly half of purchasers have been buying the category for more than a decade, compared with just 24% for connected fitness, 15% for wearables, and 13% for wellness apps. Because activewear is often worn for high-intensity activities, products naturally wear out, which drives recurring replacement cycles from a large, stable consumer base. Nearly one in three recent purchases were simply to replace worn items. Having lower price points than many adjacent wellness products also encourages more frequent and impulse purchases (connected fitness, for example, can cost upwards of $1,500), and activewear’s visibility in everyday life makes it an important form of social signaling, particularly among younger consumers. These dynamics give activewear brands a large, engaged consumer base and a strong foundation to capitalize on the growth of the broader wellness ecosystem.

While activewear and footwear remain core purchases, together they represent only about 22% of US consumers’ overall wellness spending. The US, which has the largest and fastest-growing wellness economy, provides a view of where other markets may be heading as their wellness ecosystems mature. (See Exhibit 2.) In France and Germany, activewear still accounts for 30% to 40% of the wellness wallet. However, across all three markets, consumers indicate that a growing share of future wellness spending will flow toward adjacent categories, including nutrition, weight loss solutions, gym memberships, fitness experiences, and wellness services. As these markets grow, brands have an opportunity to capture more of consumer wellness spending by tailoring core apparel offerings to specific life stages, expanding wellness content, and forging creative partnerships that reinforce the brand’s role in consumers’ wellness routines.

Consumers are not only increasing their wellness spending, but also expanding the definition of fitness itself, viewing it through the lens of overall wellbeing rather than exercise alone. In our survey, building strength is the leading motivation for exercise, but it is closely followed by improving cardiovascular health, managing weight, supporting longevity, and enhancing mental wellbeing. Holistic wellness for older consumers places greater emphasis on cardiovascular health and healthy aging, while Gen Z and Millennials are more focused on stress management and mental health. (See Exhibit 3.)

As consumers’ definitions of wellness become more holistic, they naturally begin investing across a broader set of wellness categories. For brands, this creates new opportunities to engage with them. Identifying where and when those opportunities emerge is the first step toward capturing growth.

The Right Moments: When Spending Accelerates or Slows Down

Wellness spending rises and falls at pivotal moments in consumers’ lives. As routines, motivations, and priorities change, consumers reassess how they engage with fitness, the products and services they need, and the brands they are willing to consider. Our research identifies six pivotal life stages that impact wellness spending: three accelerant moments to capture incremental wallet share and three retention moments to defend it. (See Exhibit 4.)

Accelerant Moments

Three life stages—youth sports participation, weight-loss journeys, and setting a new fitness goal—represent particularly powerful opportunities to acquire new consumers and capture a greater share of their wellness spending. Brands can capitalize on these moments to drive acquisition, encourage trade-up, and build long-term loyalty. (See Exhibit 5.) These stages are characterized by heightened motivation, evolving identity, and greater willingness to invest in new products, experiences, and brands.

During these moments, consumers are not simply buying products; they are investing in a new version of themselves. Because consumers become more focused on achieving specific goals during these moments, the basis of competition shifts from price toward solving those needs, which creates opportunities for more specialized and higher-value offerings.

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Retention Moments

Other life stages require a different approach. Parenthood, injury or physical setbacks, and healthy aging shift spending away from activewear toward adjacent wellness categories, creating new opportunities for retention by serving needs that are currently underserved in activewear. Brands can retain consumers through these transitions by addressing areas of increased spending, such as rehabilitation support and return-to-fitness.

Retention moments require brands to remain relevant by serving consumers through adjacencies. Understanding which type of moment a consumer is experiencing becomes the foundation for determining how brands should respond.

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The Right Offering: Extending Relevance Beyond Activewear

Once brands identify the moments that matter most, the next challenge is deciding how to respond. To unlock growth, brands need offerings that reinforce their core activewear proposition while helping consumers meet emerging wellness needs. The most effective strategies enable brands to leverage their credibility in adjacent categories where consumers are already expanding their spending. The following examples illustrate how activewear brands can extend their relevance across wellness adjacencies.

The Right Places: Winning the Next Discovery Journey

Although stores remain the most influential touchpoint in final purchase decisions, more than 60% of consumers discover and research products across four or more channels before choosing an activewear brand. Consumers increasingly move between retail stores, search engines, brand websites, online reviews, social media, and AI tools before making a purchase.

Looking more closely at how consumers discover brands reveals a clear difference between incumbents and challengers. Established brands are more likely to be discovered in stores, while challenger brands rely more on word of mouth, social media, and their own websites and apps, reflecting their digital-first approach. (See Exhibit 6.) Emerging channels are more evenly split: challengers have a slight edge in social media and influencer-driven discovery (+2 percentage points compared to incumbents), while incumbents lead by a similar margin in AI-driven discovery (+2 percentage points compared to challengers).

The intense battle for consumer attention is driving decision fatigue. Consumers report feeling overwhelmed by the number of product choices, with more than half saying they are unsure which wellness products are right for them, highlighting a growing need for trusted guidance rather than simply more information.

Given this complexity, consumers are fundamentally changing how they discover brands. Rather than searching for individual products—for example, “I need a new pair of running shoes”—consumers increasingly ask broader questions such as, “What gear do I need to train for my first marathon?” or “How should I get back into fitness after an injury?” AI is well-suited to address these holistic questions because it can combine products, advice, training plans, and recommendations into a single experience.

AI is increasingly influential in driving discovery. Among US consumers, 36% have used AI for shopping. Of those, 80% have used it for product discovery. More than 50% already use AI across wellness “occasions,” particularly in pivotal life stages. Nearly one in five consumers report discovering new brands through social media or AI, rising to 29% among Gen Z, and that figure is likely to rise as AI adoption expands across the purchase journey.

For activewear brands, this creates an important new opportunity. The same occasions and life stages that increase activewear spending and openness to new brands, such as beginning a weight-loss journey or training for a first marathon, are also the moments when consumers are most likely to turn to AI for guidance. As purchase journeys become increasingly occasion-based, brands will need to compete for visibility within AI-generated recommendations during these high-intent consumer moments. Companies that establish authority early will enjoy meaningful advantages as AI becomes an increasingly important discovery platform.

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Consumers continue to invest in athletic apparel and footwear, but they are investing even more broadly in wellness. As the wellness economy expands, brands have an opportunity to participate in a much larger ecosystem of products, services, experiences, and technologies that support healthier lifestyles.

Capturing that opportunity requires a different strategic lens. Companies must identify the life stages when consumers are most likely to expand their wellness spending, understand the new needs that accompany those transitions, and build offerings that reinforce their brand while extending naturally into adjacencies via partnerships, content, or product innovation. In addition, they must ensure those offerings remain visible as discovery increasingly shifts toward AI-enabled consumer journeys. In doing so, brands can not only compete for share within activewear but also become a trusted participant in consumers’ broader pursuit of health and wellbeing.

We thank Justin Vincent, Kunal Bhatia, Sebastian Bak, Amy White, Myla Swallow, and Alysa Dhar for their contributions to this article.